Even as California Gov. Jerry Brown calls for a statewide moment of silence on Friday to honor the victims of last week's mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., a social movement is spreading on the Internet for a moment of digital silence, too.
The governor is asking Californians to participate at 9:30 a.m. Friday, at the request of Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, according to Brown's office. Malloy made the request of all U.S. governors on Tuesday in honor of the 20 children and six adults who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The exact time called for in the nationwide "Moment for Sandy Hook" is 9:30 a.m. EST. More information and instructions to participate is at webmomentofsilence.org.
Regional Patch websites including this one will "go black" for the Web Moment of Silence for Sandy Hook. A somber image will remind people of the tragedy for 60 seconds and inhibit entrance to the website. The image will link to this Causes page.
The moment of silence on websites will coincide with one across social media sites. People and companies are also spreading the word by tweeting their intention to go quiet with the hashtag #momentforSandyHook.
Over 100,000 people have pledged not to tweet or post to Facebook, including Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Britney Spears, Suze Orman, Tyler Florence, Goldie Hawn, and Joe Montana, according to TechCrunch.
High-profile Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway started the promotion, CNN.Com reports.
Conway joined other notables to demand action for stronger gun control in a full-page ad in the Wednesday print edition of the New York Times. The ad was run by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a lobbying group of more than 700 U.S. mayors. It started the Demand A Plan campaign to reform gun laws after the Aurora, Colorado, shootings in July, and it has seen a surge in new support after the Sandy Hook shootings.
This is not the first time major sites have banded together to go dark for a cause. This year, major tech names staged an immense and successful online protest against the Stop Online Privacy Act.
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